Are you a Book Marker?

June 3, 2017

Do you mark up your books?

Do you underline great sentences? Write questions in the margins? Make your own commentary on the text?

When I was younger I wouldn’t have dared. Books should be kept as pristine as possible. But then in high school I had a class where we had to highlight things in our books and underline others, we were encouraged to write our own marginalia wherever we were struck with a thought.

And I was surprised to find that I loved it. (Note: This was all in non-fiction books. I can’t really imagine writing in a fiction story.)

While looking into this idea, I ran across a quote in a letter by C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves in which he describes how much he enjoys of properly inking a page:

To enjoy a book like that thoroughly I find I have to treat it as a sort of hobby and set about it seriously. I begin by making a map on one of the end-leafs: then I put in a genealogical tree or two. Then I put a running headline at the top of each page: finally I index at the end all the passages I have for any reason underlined. I often wonder—considering how people enjoy themselves developing photos or making scrap-books—why so few people make a hobby of their reading in this way. Many an otherwise dull book which I had to read have I enjoyed in this way, with a fine-nibbed pen in my hand: one is making something all the time and a book so read acquires the charm of a toy without losing that of a book.

Well, I’ll just say right now that inking a book is just one of many things that C.S. Lewis did on a whole different level than I do.

Then I realized that marking in books goes so much farther than just writing in them.

Do you dog-ear pages?

Fold pages completely down?

Do you bend the covers back out of the way?

Do you break the spine so it lays open?

Personally, I will write in non-fiction books, and occasionally dog-ear pages in the same. But that’s it. I have a really hard time spreading a paperback far enough to crease the spine, and books I’ve read many a time (Pride and Prejudice, I’m looking at you…) still have very nice covers and smooth spines.

But I’ve known people who roll the cover back out of the way and break the spine every twenty pages so it lays wide open. When they’re done the books looks like it’s been through the apocalypse.
I believe they call it being “broken in.”

How about you? Do you keep all your books immaculate? Do you write in books? If so, when? Do you lovingly break it in until the resembles some sort of paper flower fanning out in all directions?

Yes, I’m a book marker but most likely quite different to most. Nothing irritates me more than miss spelled or the use of incorrect words and I tend to highlight or underline them, regardless of whether they are fiction or non-fiction. Even my eBooks receive the same treatment. Some of the authors would have a fit if they could see their books.

My books are like my very special treasured jewels. Whether they are paperback or hardcover fiction, I couldn’t possibly think of marking them up or damaging them. Ever since I was a very little girl just learning to read, I considered books to be my very best friends. They took me places that only dreams were made of. They let me become whomever I wanted to be, traveling all over the world as well as all over the universe in a different space and time. My reality is, was and never could be so wonderful. Before there ever was Kindle, all my favorite authors and their series I have in hardcover and they all have special places to sit and be shown off to whomever takes the time to look. Although, just like Nolene mentioned above, misspelled words and incorrect grammar drives me up a wall and is definitely a major pet peeve of mine! I still couldn’t mark up my special treasures. My non-fiction, however, gets treated very differently. I definitely mark them up. Writing, underlining, as well as highlighting everything that seems important for me to learn and remember. After all, isn’t that what non-fiction books are for???

Roger, if you had continued to read on you have noticed the ONLY type of books that I EVER would write in and mark was a non-fiction book and those were different then my prized fiction which as I had also stated were treated like special treasured and those were never marked and were spotless in ever way possible. I still have each and every one of my books dating back into 1960’s and I know i’m aging myself…lol Non-fiction books were the type that I always believed were written so that you were able to take notes, underline as well and highlight so that I was able to find just what I was looking for and could find them very easily and when needed easy to learn from them and even to this day I also have those same books as well and when I have question about the things that were written I still to this day know exactly where to find the things in those books that I have used for research and still do. When it comes to my fiction books and find any kind of errors I usually try to get in touch with the author, editor, etc. and let them know where to find the errors so that they can attempt to fix their mistakes.

Hi Alyce,
I had read all of your letter, it’s just that I’ve never distinguished between the care of fiction and non-fiction books. The only difference is that I ignore any mistakes in fiction books.
It sounds like we’re about the same age. However, I bought very few books during the sixties, I went to the library every week. I remember reading all of the Russian authors that I could get hold of: everything by Dostoyevsky; Pasternak; Sholokhov. ‘War and Peace’ stuck in my mind because I was the same as Natasha is at the beginning.
I still get most of my books from the library but I have bought all of the Discworld and Harry Potter books and the ‘Songs of Ice and Fire’ series so far and am getting very frustrated waiting for the next volumes.
best wishes,
Roger

After 30+ years teaching college and university classes, you would think I would be used to mistakes in books (and student reports), but they still drive me crazy. I made corrections and notes in ALL my text books, but never in fiction books. Perhaps I should get a job as a proof reader. It might be very satisfying.

Before I got into ebooks, the only marking I put on my books was a dog ear to mark where I was. I never wrote in mine, honestly the thought never occurred to me to do so. When my husband saw how much I was reading he asked me why I didn’t use a bookmark since I was pretty much careful with my books otherwise. I remember just looking at him and then saying “I never thought of that” and then feeling completely stupid. Here I was reading with a notebook next to me to write down anything I thought was of interest and nearly crying if a cover came unglued because it was the hundredth time I’d read the book but never thought to use a bookmark…lol. He later went and bought me some.

Now I get ebooks and while I do use the hightlight feature I still keep a notebook next to me.

The only books I ever highlighted were text books. I have four collections of books (Agatha Christie, Louis Lamour, Clive Cussler, and the 100 best books of American literature. I would NEVER mark in any of these.

I do love the fact that when I am reading an electronic book that I can highlight and make notes. My scriptures look like an ad for crayon.

I try to preserve all of my books in as pristine a condition as possible, using a paper to mark my place rather than folding over the page corner. I would never dream of writing in a book. However, I sometimes have to fold back the spine to keep the book on the page that I am reading if I need to read one handed.

I had a history teacher in 11 and 12 that taught by having the class underline the text in the history book. I took one of his classes in Modern World problems in which by circumstance I never attended a class but made a better grade in provincially set exams than in the history class I attended.

I do not even write my name in books as a general rule and these days pass many on to my sister and brother in law though e-books library borrowed present a problem, EH!

Rather than mark up books I make notes and reviews published on Good Reads, 50-Book Pledge, Amazon, and Blogpost. Since I own at least 5000 books I tend to pass hard copies along these days.

The only books I ever write in are non-fiction. Then I use highlighters or anything I have handy. My fiction books are special and I will loan them to friends but if they ever come back marked or do-eared or spine broken, then they never get another loaner!! Today I read mostly on my reader, but I still have my book collection–including almost all of the Star Trek series of books up until I couldn’t afford them anymore (1992).

If there’s something I absolutely love, I will write it down in my journal. Whether it’s a quote, line, joke or whatever….I write it down. The book, the series (if any), author, page #, chapter, etc., etc.. I keep my books in the best condition as possible 💕

Books are not meant to be wrote on, dog eared, or the spine bent back!!!!!!! Any book is like my Bible. I would never add to it. They are very special. Each one takes me any where in the world, or outer space. So treat your books like your Bible. With kindness and love. Because I do.

I couldn’t with a fiction book – there is just no way – I can not dog-ear the pages, I can’t eat while reading because my fingers might get the book dirty – yeah I am that OCD about my books – nowww the e-reader i can eat, walk, make notes but it will never ever come close to the feel of touching and reading from an actual paper or hard bound book

I am an “avocational reader and reviewer”- it’s on my business card so it’s gotta be true…right? I underline all over the place with whatever’s handiest, and since I often use a quote to open a review, that page get’s dog ears….

Not the best idea when you give your books away during “culling season’

I highlight and mark my books, fiction and non-fiction, with highlighters, regular pencils and colored pencils. I write a legend on the first page as to what the colors mean if I’m getting that in depth with my marking. Those tend to be non-fiction.

I write reviews for a website and I’m an editor so I keep track of errors, timeline inconsistencies and particularly great word usages and quotes for feedback for the author.

Since ebooks have come out, I make notes and highlight electronically since I can not actually write in the books in my Kindle. 🙂

The only books I don’t write in are my hardback, first editions that are signed. My wife and I have quite a few of these in our library.

I hardly ever read real paperback books, as I like the convenience of e-books. I am a slow reader and I tend to pick up on most of the spelling and grammatical errors, so recently I tried highlighting these issues using Kindle e-book reader. While I thought this would help me with the book review, I felt bad that these errors made a bad impression on a story that was good and made me feel like I was being picky. I guess I put too much faith that the editor would find and correct these problems.

I will write and highlight in non-fiction books. I write and highlight mostly in the Bible. I find dog-earring or any kind of page-folding to be irritating and I would never, ever break the spine of a book

I never marked in books until i went to college. I hated every moment that I had to highlight in different colors for different classes.
My personal books , I keep prestine. Unfortunately, I married a man who bends pages ,marks, writes, breaks spines, etc.
For years we would argue over the desemation of the books, but one year I got a brilliant idea, why not but two of the same book. I have my prestine books and he has his marked up ones. We’ve been happily married for 38 years.

I believe in preserving books,but I am not as meticulous as some of you. When I retired and moved to another state, I was furious that no library or organization that takes used things would take my books, including children’s books and encyclopedias! They were free for heavens sake!!
For cost savings and my age, my daughter gave me a fire tablet. I found a whole world of free books and great reads and I can increase the font to reduce eye strain as I age. I read about 5 to 10 books a week.

Mark in a book? Sacrilege! LOL My books are pristine. Of course, I mostly buy ebooks now for the convenience, but I would never mark in a paper book, When I was in college, some of my professors would look over my shoulder and ask how I could learn without underlining or highlighting. It didn’t keep me from getting straight A’s;-)

I am a book-marker, but not a book breaker! I ( automatically from childhood) I highlight passages which strike me as particularly insightful and proof-read and highlight errors in a different colour with comments in margins. I love books and would never dream of dog-earing pages (What are book-marks for?) or breaking the spines etc